From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the Bible Solomon setup a trade with Tarshish and received ivory, apes, and peacocks[9:21][10:22] from Tarshish which are all native to the jungles in India. India's state bird for example is the peacock [1]. The Bible also indicates that Jonah also attempted to sail to Tarshish [1:3]. His rebellion against the LORD led to his being tossed overboard by sailors, swallowed by a large fish, and vomitted out onto dry land by God's command. He then made his way to Ninevah, now known as Mosul, in Iraq.

Flavius Josephus (Antiquitates Iudaicae i. 6, § 1) reads "Tarshush", identifying it as the city of Tarsus in southern Asia Minor which was referred to in Assyrian records from the reign of Esarhaddon as Tarsisi. Prior to this time, the Assyrians referred to Tarsus as Tarzi. Modern research has shown that the metals the Old Testament associates with Tarshish existed in the Taurus Mountains north of Tarsus.[citation needed] In addition, Phoenician inscriptions have been found at Karatepe in Cilicia[2]. Bunsen and Sayce[3] follow Josephus.

However, the name is sometimes also used in more general meanings. The Bible uses the term ships of Tarshish to denote large ships intended for large voyages whatever their destination;[4] some Bible translations, including the NIV, go as far as to translate the phrase ship(s) of Tarshish as "trading ship(s)," and Jonah's fleeing to Tarshish may need to be taken as "a place very far away" rather than a precise geographical term. It may however refer to Tarsus in Cilicia where Saul, later Paul hailed from.[5] The term 'tarshish' may also be derived from the greek 'tarsos' which is the name for an oar used in ancient ships. On the Mediterranean Sea, ships that used only sails were often left stranded without wind while ships with oars could continue their voyage.[6] Therefore, trading ships most likely would have used oarsmen rather than sails.

Bochart (in his Phaleg) and later authors like Hertz (1936) identify Tarshish as the city of Tartessos in Southern Spain. In the Oracle against Tyre, the prophetEzekiel (27:12) mentions that silver, iron, lead and tin came to Tyre from Tarshish (Trsys). They were stored in Tyre and resold, probably to Mesopotamia.

Le Page Renouf[7] thought that "Tarshish" means a coast, and, as the word occurs frequently in connection with Tyre, the Phoenician coast is to be understood.

Cheyne[8] thinks that "Tarshish" of Gen 10:4 and "Tiras" of Gen 10:2, are really two names of one nation derived from two different sources, and might indicate the Tyrsenians or Etruscans. Thus the name may denote Italy or the European coasts west of Greece.

In later history

Tarshish is the name of a village in Lebanon. The village is located in the Baabda Kadaa at an elevation of 1400m and is 50 km away from Beirut.

Around 1665, the followers of Shabbatai Zvi in İzmir interpreted the ships of Tarshish as Dutch ships that would transport them to the Holy Land.

English historian James Emerson Tennent also theorized Galle, a southern city in Sri Lanka, was the ancient seaport of Tarshish from which King Solomon is said to have drawn ivory, peacocks and other valuables.

Some believe the Tarshish power to be Britain and possibly related to an Eastern Tarshish, namely India. Some, looking for the 2nd coming of Jesus and the Kingdom of God based round the land of Israel, believe that the prophecies regarding the Tarshish power have their latter day fulfilment in modern times.

Tarshish was also the name of a short-lived political party[citation needed] founded by would-be assassin of Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, Moshe Dwek.

Another theory is by Fr. Francisco Collin SJ. He claims that the Filipino people were descendants of Tarshish.

In Herman Melville's novelMoby-Dick, Father Mapple gives a sermon on the story of Jonah. Father Mapple identifies the Tarshish to which Jonah flees with the port of Cádiz in Spain, "as far by water, from Joppa, as Jonah could possibly have sailed in those ancient days, when the Atlantic was an almost unknown sea" (Chapter 9, "The Sermon").

Tarshish is a family name found among Jews of Ashkenazic descent. A variation on the name, Tarshishi, is found among Arabs of Lebanese descent, and likely indicates a family connection to the Lebanese village Tarshish

From BibleWiki

The name of a place which first comes into notice in the days
of Solomon. The question as
to the locality of Tarshish has given rise to not a little
discussion. Some think there was a Tarshish in the East, on the
Indian coast, seeing that "ships of Tarshish" sailed from Eziongeber, on the Red Sea (1 Kg9:26; 1 Kg22:48; 2Chr9:21). Some, again,
argue that Carthage was
the place so named. There can be little doubt, however, that this
is the name of a Phoenician port in Spain, between the two mouths of the Guadalquivir
(the name given to the river by the Arabs, and meaning "the great
wady" or water-course). It was
founded by a Carthaginian colony, and was the farthest western
harbour of Tyrian sailors. It was to this port Jonah's ship was about to sail from
Joppa. It has well been styled
"the Peru of Tyrian adventure;" it abounded in gold and silver mines.

It appears that this name also is used without reference to any
locality. "Ships of Tarshish" is an expression sometimes denoting
simply ships intended for a long voyage (Isa23:1, Isa23:14), ships of a large size
(sea-going ships), whatever might be the port to which they sailed.
Solomon's ships were so
styled (1 Kg10:22; 1 Kg22:49).